A Brooklyn federal judge formally dismissed the last major criminal case stemming from the United States government’s sweeping investigation into corruption at the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) on Wednesday, after the Department of Justice (DOJ) said the prosecution no longer reflects its enforcement priorities.
US District Judge Pamela K. Chen accepted the explanation from US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. that charges against Hernan Lopez, the former chief executive of Fox International Channels, and Full Play Group SA, an Argentine sports marketing company, do not fit within the priorities of the current administration.
The decision came on the 11th anniversary of the landmark 2015 takedown that initially charged 14 defendants and reached the highest levels of global soccer.
Nocella told the judge that the administration preferred to concentrate resources on domestic and foreign terrorist organisations, national security, narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, and violent gangs. He appeared alone at the prosecution table, having personally signed the motion to dismiss.
Lopez and Full Play Group SA had been convicted by a federal jury in 2023 of paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to FIFA and South American soccer officials in exchange for broadcasting rights to major tournaments including the Copa América, Copa Libertadores, and the World Cup. Judge Chen later overturned that verdict on narrow legal grounds, though the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the convictions. The DOJ moved in December 2025 to drop the indictment entirely.
The US government had by then already turned over $201 million to FIFA and affiliated organisations to fund soccer-related community projects across the country. FIFA itself told the court it agreed that dismissing the charges against Lopez and Full Play would have no effect on convictions secured against other defendants over the past decade.
The outcome marks the second high-profile bribery case dropped during President Donald Trump’s second term, following the earlier withdrawal of corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.
“Six years later, a case that should have never started is finally over,” Lopez told reporters outside the Brooklyn courthouse.
